US - Canadian Lumber conflict continues
The U.S. lumber industry is set to play its ace card today by announcing it is ready to go to the Supreme Court to dispute NAFTA's authority over trade disputes.
With talks deadlocked, the Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports plans a constitutional challenge of a key part of the 11-year-old trade agreement that attempts to settle industry disputes among Canada, Mexico and the United States.
The US lumber industry can't win in front of the review panel or in directly in court, because they are clearly wrong. So they are going to challenge the constitutionality of the treaty itself.
I actually agree with the lumber industry that the NAFTA review boards should not be able to override US law. Not because the idea itself is unconstitutional, but because the review boards operate in near total secrecy and have broad ranging power to override any US law they consider contrary to NAFTA.
Unfortunatly, the lumber industry is the worst possible group to challenge this. The industry is looking at a constitutional challenge because they can't win the trade dispute on merit. The restrictions and tariffs on Canadian lumber are a clear violation of NAFTA, and the idea of free trade in general.
Some people want these matters thrown back to Congress, but I don't think that is a solution. Half of the problem here is that Congress is backing the lumber industry, because free trade is something that big US companies to do people, not something non-US companies are allowed to do to us. No matter what the clear wording of the treaty we signed with them is.
Jay
